Wold has spent 10 years as a coach in the boys basketball program at Monroe, the past five as the head coach.

Under Wold, the Bearcats made the 4A District 1 playoffs each of the past three seasons and in 2011 were co-Wesco 4A North champions with Arlington. They also advanced to the 4A state tournament that same season, their first in 17 years.

"(Wold resigning) is a huge loss, not only for our boys basketball program, but for our athletic program as a whole," Wille wrote in an email.

Wille added that the search for Wold's replacement will begin immediately.

Wold said he felt the program was equipped to handle the change.

"I just felt it was the right time for me and my family and also for Monroe basketball as a whole," Wold said. "I really feel like our program is at a place right now where handling change would be an easy piece for the next person to come in and transition."

Wold said the feeder program of elementary and middle school kids is in a good position for the program to be successful in the future and the varsity team has experience returning next season.

"It's perfect timing for the players we have coming back in our program," Wold said. "I really feel that the coach coming in will see some success because we return some fantastic players and some people that really believe in playing the game the right way. We return six players that started at some point this past season."

Wold hasn't ruled out a return to coaching down the line, but only when he knows he is ready.

"Really my goal now is to just sit back and be reflective over my past 10 years and really think about my craft and think about way that I can improve," he said. "I think if you are not trying to improve than you are probably getting worse.

"I'm going to be reflective about my time in the past 10 years and see how I can improve as a coach and spend a year, six months, five years or however long it takes for me to really feel that I'm going to be comfortable to go back into it."

Wold coached Monroe to a 55-51 victory over Arlington in the regular-season finale in 2011, clinching a share of the league title and the No. 1 seed in the district tournament thanks to the Bearcats head-to-head record against the Eagles. The Eagles were the coaches' preseason pick to win the league that season.

Monroe guard Slava Ulanovskiy scored a game-high 20 points including a pivotal four-point play in game's final minutes that helped the Bearcats claim victory.

After struggling in the 4A ranks for nearly a decade, the 2011 season was an opportunity for Wold and Wille, the former Monroe boys head coach, and others to see all the hard work they had put into the program pay off.

"I thought that was a pretty special year," Wold said. "That's definitely the highlight of my coaching career, that season with all those young men."

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.

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